I
ARTS
The Michigan Daily- Sunday, March 14, 1982 Page 5
From Irish melodies to America
By Dave Paton
T THE ARK this weekend, two
musicians demonstrated how
limiting and unapplicable heavy-duty
classifications such as "folk music" or
"jazz music" can be. Friday and
Saturday nights, Billy Novick and Guy
Van Duser played a music rich in its in-
timations of multiple musical influen-
ces. Their performance was a veritable
catalogue of styles that ranged easily
from genre to genre.
Van Duser, on nylon-stringed guitar,
and Novick, who played clarinet,
saxophone, and assorted whistles, ap-
peared earlier this year at the annual
Folk Festival. Their return to Ann Abor
was a very successful one, with the in-
timate setting of the Ark providing a
stuitable backdrop. The energy and ex-
cellence of their music, and the influen-
ce of their song selection, combined to
make the Friday night perfomance a
nieiorable occasion.
"The music revealed a new face with
every song. Most of the songs were
classic eccentricities from the early
jazz and swing period, and the
arrangements enlivened the tunes
without removing the feel of the period.
Van Duser, who taught himself the
guitar in his adolescence, inspired by
the flatpickicking style of Chet Atkins,
brought an astonishing range of
techniques to his work, moving from an
Atkins-like country band sound to a
chunkier, rhythmic picking that
represents an effort to translate the
1920s and 1930s stride music of Fats
Waller to the guitar.
The guitar-wind duet obviously
created a spare.sound, but Van Duser's
guitar was everywhere, laying down
strong percussion, advancing the
melody in a Fats-influenced, walking-
beat style, breaking into rapid, single-
note runs. At one point, in "Farewell,"
he created a distinctly drumlike sound
by grasping the guitar well down the
fretboard and strumming in a hard
cadence. At another point, he managed
to tune his guitar and slip the coda off
the guitar neck without interrupting the
song he was playing.
Billy Novick, who was classically
trained in oboe, alternated slightly
crazed vocal renditions of swing tunes
with powerful, tonally rich reed solos.
Perhaps even better was his work on
the whistle, both in Irish melodies like
the haunting "Mary Douglas" or in
rollicking, American flag-wavers like
"The Liberty Bell March." After the
concert, he said of the whistle: "I'm
trying to create an American style for
it. The whistle has either been played
in Irish airs, or not at all, in America."
The range of Novick and Van Duser's
music is easily grasped in the contrast
between Novick's lilting, high-pitched
whistle in the previous examples, ana
the winding, swinging clarinet, as
represented in stompers like "Ready
for the River" and "I Know That You
Know." One never knew what might
come next.
The interplay between the two also
created fun for the audience. Novick
presented a zany and irreverent stage
persona to Van Duser's eye-rolling
straight man. They interrupted each
other's anecdotes and generally wreaked
havoc. It was important to notice,
however, how the intensity of their
playing belied the flippance of their
banter.
The song selection was highly eclec-
tic. Songs by Gershwin, Sousa,
Ellington, Goodman, and others, as
well as originals by both men, were in-
cluded. Novick sang the clarinet-based,
early jazz and acoustic blues songs,
alternating wild clarinet breaks with
his vocals. Some sample titles should
give the general idea: "Don't Let It
Bother You," "High Society," and "Me
Myself and I (Are All in Love With
You)."
The unpredictable manner in which
the pair varied their selections was eye-
opening and enjoyable. After a
beautifully played version of the oft-
covered "Stars Fell On Alabama,"
featuring a solo guitar prelude and the
best sax of the night, Novick performed
an original whistle medley; the third
part was titled "The Ronald Reagan
Can't Be Reel."
This is a pair of musicians who
deserve to be heard. The sheer variety
of their music, combined with the ex-
cellence of their playing, makes their
sound much more exciting and
listenable than most mainstream rock,
folk, or jazz. In their music, a blowzy,
honking clarinet can exist next to a
flatpicking guitar highly praised by the
.n flag-w
established masters of the craft. Or a
pristine, folkish pennywhistle can be
played as in the Novick original "The
Duke of Ellington," to imitate the sup-
ple, bending horns assocated with that
figure. Novick and Van Duser have
roots in swing, barrelhouse jazz, and
British Isles folk (to name a few), but
owe allegiance to none. They thus have
the freedom to create their own distin-
ctive sound in a way that a purist can-
not.
The common denominator, that un-
derlies all the switches in chronology
and regional style, is an emphasis on
high quality musicianship and
technique that makes the search for their
records well worth the effort. This was
music that everyone should think of
acquiring when they feel that they have
been putting the same old record on the
turntable once too often.
Novick and Van Duser aim to remind
POETRY READING
with
MUHAMAD SALLEH
and
JUDITH McCOMBS
Reading from their works
MON.. MAR. 15-8 p.m.
GUILD HOUSE-802 Monroe
(662-5189)
ADMISSION FREE
avers
one of the roots of American music, as
Novick said: "We're not purists, I'll
concede that, but the fun of giving
people the idea of music of more than
twenty or thirty years ago, or before
they started listening to music, is wor-
thwhile in itself."
Film fest rolls on
By Kathy Glasgow
GOING TO THE 16mm Ann Arbor
film festival is similar to visiting
an art museum. At a museum, you see
various works of art, some of which you
like, some of which you don't, but all of
which you are able to appreciate.
Like paintings on exhibition, the films
were highly commendable for their ef-
fort and creativity, though not always
likeable. The audience responded most
favorably to the violent, avant-garde
films-Extended Play and Songs for
Swinging Larvae.
Extended Play, was a deluge of erotic
imagery and violence. The main
.character, a stereotypical nerd, fails
with women and turns to pinball ar-
cades for his excitement, where a
seemingly innocent video game-
becomes an evil, sadistic holocaust.
This film received a generaous burst of
applause.
The fourth film, Urban Landscape,
was a short animated film. Mainly an
audio/visual exercise, with a large
variety of sound effects accompanying
geometric shapes and stick figures. I
suspect, for most viewers, it was like
abstract art-nice to look at, but dif-
ficult to interpret.
Songs for Swinging Larvae was a
highly surrealistic account of the kid-
napping of a young boy and his ultimate
escape, the bizarre, colorful imagery
produced a spooky shock effect.
Because it was offbeat and unconven-
tional, it was the most memorable film
of the evening.
The last movie, Men Who Are Men,
was filmed in the African jungle. It told
of the arrival of a governor in an un-
derdeveloped country. His efforts to
educate and reform are not appreciated
by the natives. Although the political
theme was somewhat thought-
provoking, the audience became bored
and restless, probably because it was
less action-packed than preceeding
films.
The 16mm Film Festival provides a
hit or miss situation. You may not like
all the films, but it is always a valuable
experience to see different styles of
movie making. It's worth it to take a
stroll through the gallery.
The film festival will end today with
screenings of the winners and
highlights at 7, 9, and 11 p.m.
375 N. MAPLE
769-1300
BARGAIN MATINElS-DAILY t$250
DAILY-7:00, 9:00
SEnthralling.7..15 SAT, SUN-1 , 3, 5, 7,94 R
h g.. 7 . 1:15
: C-ARlOTSAcademy 4:00 ENDS THURSI
SORRY-NO $1 TUES D
Of UnDW TIIr5Ufl
BURT LANCASTER
SUSAN SARANDON 1 30
ATLANTC3
C:TV 15:301
PMOUNT7:30PETER
SAcademy Awar 9:30USTNO
NominationsAS.
RAGTIMEHERCULE
A TRIUMPHANT 4:30
BLOCKBUSTER! 7:45 RODDY
jagE Academy MDOWEL
8 Award Nominations
Dudley Moore Liza Minel DIANA
John Gielgud G30G
7.40 IDAILY-7:30, 9:40 (PG)
j Academy Award SAT, SUN-12:50, 3:00, 5:20
Nominations 9:4 7:30, 9:40
t
The Mighty Diamonds
The reggae of this Jamaica-based group will rock Second Chance on Tuesday,
March 16. Opening for The Mighty Diamonds will be I-Tal, the reggae band from
Cleveland that almost stole the show from Peter Tosh at last October's concert.
THE
PUZZLE
Zip Code
New at Bimbo's
114 E Washington
By Don Rubin
The object of this exercise
is to rearrange the pieces of
fabric at the right so that all
four can be zipped into a
square. The rules are relative-
ly simple.
You may not turn any of the
pieces over, or cut them out!
This is supposed to be a men-
tal exercise. So don't use a
pencil; use your head (except,
of course, to indicate your
answer).
There are at least six possi-
ble solutions. We've given one
of them to get you off to a ...
uh, flying start.
DOWNTOWN
SUNDAY-PASTA BUFFET
ALL YOU DESIRE $3.95
LAST WEEK'S SOLUTION:
The correct solutions (8 pm to
10:30 pm):
The Wild, Wild West
Bonanza
The Flying Nun
Roller Derby
The Munsters
Then Came Bronson
It Takes a Thief
Dick Van Dyke
Combat!
Burke's Law (or Amos
Burke, Secret Agent)
Mod Squad
Adam-12
Make Room for Daddy
(or ... Grandaddy, or
even The Danny Thomas
Show)
Hogan's Heroes
The Bold Ones (The New
Doctors)
I Spy
(Mutual of Omaha's) Wild
Kingdom
Bracken's World
What's My Line?
The Avengers
The Big Valley
The Beverly Hillbillies
The FBI
LAST WEEK'S WINNERS:
4
M
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w
4
"
4~
'
"
} 4 ..
_
Baked
WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY
25%/'o OFF ALL PIZZAS
HAPPY HOURS SUNDAY-THURSDAY 8:30 p.m.
until closing. All specials served from 4 p.m. until closing. No
Takeout or Delivery.
MONDAY and TUESDAY
Spaghetti or Mostaccioli $1.99
Lasagna-Cannelloni or Manicotti $2.75
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Fed up with these crazy puzzles?
WnuM ny likeo to got oven with Dnn
Send your completed puzzle to
. 1 I
winner will receive a $5 gift cer-
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